Guy Turcotte appeals to Supreme Court of Canada

Paul Cherry, GAZETTE CRIME REPORTER01.09.2014

A court artist’s drawing of former cardiologist Guy Turcotte..Delphine Berg
/ THE GAZETTE

Prosecutor René Verret, right, at the St-Jérome courthouse on Friday, Jan. 10, 2014, wanted a trial date set “as soon as possible” and argued that because the homicides happened nearly five years ago, the memories of some witnesses could become a problem.Vincenzo D'Alto
/ The Gazette

Pierre Poupart, right, the lawyer representing former cardiologist Guy Turcotte, said Quebec’s justice system should not give in to “public clamour” and “social networks” and said doing so would go against the interest of justice.Vincenzo D'Alto
/ The Gazette

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Two years after being found not criminally responsible for his children’s death, and almost one year after being released from a mental hospital...

ST-JÉROME — Guy Turcotte will ask the country's top court to consider reversing a decision ordering him to undergo a second trial on charges the former cardiologist murdered his two young children.

Turcotte's lawyer, Pierre Poupart, made the announcement Friday during a brief hearing at the St-Jérome courthouse. It ended weeks of speculation that began after the Quebec Court of Appeal ordered a new trial on Nov. 13. The provincial appellate court determined errors were made while the jury that heard evidence in Turcotte's first trial was instructed on how it could reach a verdict. For example, the appellate court ruled the presiding judge did not fully recap all the psychiatric evidence presented during the trial when he explained the criteria for a verdict of not criminally responsible.

On July 5, 2011, the jury found Turcotte not criminally responsible, due to a mental disorder, for the deaths of his son Olivier, 5, and his 3-year-old daughter Anne-Sophie. Both of the children were stabbed to death in their home in Piedmont on Feb. 21, 2009. The original indictment filed in the murder case was reinstated and Turcotte was arrested and detained again in November.

On Friday, Poupart appeared before Superior Court Justice Marc David — coincidentally the same judge who presided over the first case — for a hearing that was scheduled to be used to set the new trial date. Poupart asked David to delay setting a trial date because he plans to file a request with the Supreme Court of Canada seeking to quash the Quebec Court of Appeal decision. Poupart said he hoped to file the request by the end of Friday.

Prosecutor René Verret objected to the request and insisted David set a trial date. Verret said it could take the Supreme Court at least three months just to decide whether to hear the appeal. Verret said the law is clear — a request for a Supreme Court hearing does not suspend a lower court's decision. The prosecutor asked David to set a trial date sometime during the autumn of 2014. David replied that there already is no place for a lengthy trial on St-Jérome's Superior Court trial schedule in 2014. The judge said the earliest Turcotte's trial could be held was March 2015.

Verret then asked that the trial be scheduled as soon as possible and argued the public's confidence in the justice system should be considered. Verret said that if Quebecers have paid close attention to any criminal case in the past five years it has been Turcotte's. The prosecutor also pointed out that Turcotte's children were killed nearly five years ago and the memories of some witnesses who would be called to testify could become an issue for the second trial.

Poupart countered that attempting to satisfy "public clamour" and opinions expressed on social networks go against the administration of justice. He said "no one will cry injustice" if Turcotte's case is delayed a few months while he waits to learn if the Supreme Court will hear the appeal. Poupart also told the judge his client has been hospitalized (reportedly at the Pinel Institute) since his arrest. Turcotte was held at the Pinel Institute for months after the jury found him not criminally responsible of the murders. In Dec. 2012, the Mental Health Assessment Commission decided he had made enough progress to be released with certain conditions.

David ultimately agreed with Poupart and decided not to set a trial date. Instead, he included Turcotte's case on the court's next general scheduling date, on April 4.

David said he was fully aware that the "deaths of the two children were human tragedies," but quickly added that St-Jérome's Superior Court schedule has seven other murder cases scheduled to proceed in the coming months.

"That is seven other human tragedies," David said. "If I did as (Verret asks) I would delay others from having their trial."